Today’s readings commemorate the Baptism of Our Lord, which ends the Christmas Season.  We have returned from our journey in Advent and the celebration of the Nativity, and soon we will enter the ordinary time of living.  Let us contemplate what our Lord is doing as he enters the baptismal waters, as well as the meaning of the invitation to join in communion with His Church through baptism.

Jesus entered quietly into human time after centuries of silence.  The proclamation sung at our Christmas mass reminded us that he entered our time on a specific date, “when ages beyond number had run their course from the creation of the world.”  After three decades of quiet nurturing and growth known only to Mary and Joseph, Jesus engaged in an act of submission through which he demonstrated his solidarity with the humanity he had come to save.  The fullness of the Trinity is here in Mark’s gospel, with the Father declaring, the Holy Spirit descending, and the Son reciprocating love and devotion.

We are called to follow his example in baptism.  I recently encountered this homily from Pope Benedict XVI given in the Sistine Chapel on January 8, 2006, before baptismal sacraments. I commend the entire homily to you, but here are some key ideas.   First, in baptism we seek the security of a family that we cannot guarantee on our own.  We seek the protection of the Author of life, who conquered death and holds the keys to the future.  “Baptism inserts us into communion with Christ and therefore gives life, life itself.”  We enter an eternal “gathering of friends” that consoles and accompanies us throughout our lives, preparing us for the life to come.

Second, the relational gift conferred by baptism must be accepted and lived.  The sacramental dialogue secures both noes and yeses to declare our friendship with God.  We say no to temptation, sin, and the devil.  As Benedict explains, the ancient church renounced the “pompa diabuli, that is, the promise of life in abundance, of that apparent life that seemed to come from the pagan world, from its permissiveness, from its way of living as one pleased.”  The enticements of that pagan world are well known to us, promising satisfaction but delivering an “anti-culture of death” and a “corruption of joy”.  Saying no to the wrong preserves and protects our familial relationship, which is expressed through the Father’s love (“in you I am well pleased”), the companionship of the Holy Spirit who descends to guide us, and the salvation and peace brought to us through the Son.

As in other relationships governed by love, we show respect for the other not only in our noes, but also in our yeses.  The Ten Commandments provide a good guide, as Benedict explains:  “a yes to God who gives meaning to life (the first three commandments); a yes to the family (Fourth Commandment), a yes to life (Fifth Commandment); a yes to responsible love (Sixth Commandment); a yes to solidarity, to social responsibility, to justice (Seventh Commandment); a yes to the truth (Eighth Commandment), a yes to respect for others and their belongings (Ninth and Tenth Commandments).”

True enough, we will err from time to time.  But our relationship continues through commitment.  Do not give up!  God’s abundant mercy is there to restore us when we fail, and His grace is able to bring forth love and fidelity, even in the midst of difficulties, including silence that surrounds our own growth in faith and devotion.

Let us embrace the gift of life with joyful yeses and hearty noes as we return to living in ordinary time, accompanied and consoled by the Church as we journey ahead.  Thanks be to God.